First, to be clear, I am on record as preferring to re-sign Eric Staal, leaving him in a leadership role and paving the way to someday putting #12 in the rafters at PNC Arena next to #10, #2 and #17. That is still plan A based on the publicly available information that I have. But that plan A is dependent on three key assumptions what are that: 1) Eric Staal does in fact want to stay in Raleigh. 2) He is willing to do so for a reasonable contract both term and dollar-wise. I think four years is a reasonable timeframe for him at 30 years old, and I think something in a $6-7M range is doable. 3) Ron Francis and the rest of the Hurricanes brain trust (which includes a HUGE amount of experience with player leadership roles) think he is the right person to lead the next chapter of the Carolina Hurricanes. Details coming out of the offices on Edwards Mill Road are both murky and sparse, so I have no idea what the situation is. My wild guess is that Francis and company also prefer to keep Eric Staal and that he wants to stay and can be re-signed for a reasonable deal. But again, that is speculation on my part. But for the sake of August hockey discussion, if I was GM of the Canes and was looking to trade Eric Staal, what would I want in return? At a basic level, I would not accept only futures for a player of Staal’s caliber, and I would not accept a random collection of veteran spare...